By Samuel Oyadongha, Yenagoa

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) weekend warned that it might be forced to embark on strike action to press home its demand for the implementation of its 2009 agreement with the Federal Government on the amendment of the Pension Act and 70 years retirement age.

ASUU Benin zone which dropped the hint at the end of its zonal meeting in Yenagoa said all efforts to persuade the government to respect this aspect of the agreement have fallen on deaf ears.

The union which identified undue wastage in government spending over the years as the bane of the sector urged the federal government to plug wastages to guarantee the funding of universities in the country.

In a statement issued at the end of its meeting in Yenagoa and signed by Sunday Ighalo, Anthony Monye-Emina, Beke Sese, Emmanuel Mordi and Rim Ruke, zonal coordinator and chairmen of ASUU UNIBEN, NDU, DELSU and AAU respectively, ASUU lamented the non implementation of its 2009 agreement with the Federal Government on the amendment of the Pension Act and 70 years retirement age.

It said, “all efforts to persuade the government to respect this aspect of the agreement have fallen on deaf ears.

“The union is now left with no other option than to call its members out for an appropriate action to protect the sanctity of that agreement.”

According to the union, the Federal Government had earlier created a ruse that both houses of the National Assembly had passed the Pension Amendment Bill and the agreement was therefore under serious threat.

ASUU therefore called on parents, stakeholders and well meaning Nigerians to prevail on the Federal Government to respect and implement the agreement without further delay.

The Benin Zone also called on the national executive committee of ASUU to immediately call an emergency meeting to take appropriate action on the matter to stop individual chapters from taking their own course of action.

The statement added that the Federal Government should be held responsible for any industrial action that the union might take. “We think it is a very serious matter and our union is considering several actions to force the government to respect that aspect of the agreement,” the zonal coordinator said.